Shia LaBeouf Shows Up Unannounced At Orphans, Proceeds To Troll The Cast

Hey, remember that Broadway show Orphans that Shia LaBeouf dropped out of in such a mature, tasteful way, by posting his personal emails to Alec Baldwin on Twitter and badmouthing him publicly? Well Shia certainly remembers the show, because he showed up in the front row to its first preview performance last night and trolled it HARD. At first I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that — it could’ve easily been a goodwill gesture to the producers after all the negative press he caused after that publicity stunt. After reading some of the details, however, I’m inclined to think that it was just trolling, plain and simple.

First of all, the fact that he came to the FIRST PERFORMANCE and sat in the FRONT ROW. Guys, that is prettttty close to onstage. Your face is actually lit by the stage lights, a fact that Shia was probably counting on and achieved when Alec saw him from the stage and ‘fixed on him for a beat’, according to The New York Times. When the show was over, Shia apparently ‘leapt to his feet before any other audience member to give a standing ovation at the end’. So in case you didn’t catch that, Shia is inches from the stage, making eye contact with performers during the show, and as soon as it’s over, he’s the first one in the whole audience to stand up and clap enthusiastically…again, inches from the stage. In case there was anyone present who didn’t know he was there yet, I feel like that was probably a pretty effective heads-up.

But speaking of people who didn’t know he was there, here’s a good one — the Orphans production team. According to a spokeswoman for the show, Shia ‘did not formally alert the production team that he would be attending.’ If Shia had wanted to go in support of the production, it would’ve been really easy for him to get in touch with somebody and get himself free tickets and complimentary press coverage for his presence there. Without being on the team myself, I bet they would’ve jumped at the chance to publicize the fact that Shia was seeing the show, emphasizing that there were no hard feelings. It could’ve been almost an endorsement of his replacement, Ben Foster, and a symbol of a truce with Alec. But instead, it seems like he bought his own ticket and relied on the media to publicize it after the fact. Well good job, Shia, because I’ll bite. Grudgingly. Congratulations on a successful trolling, ya dick.